Africa’s new longest suspension bridge is now in Mozambique’s capital city. The Maputo-Catembe bridge — which joins the southern and northern coastlines of Maputo Bay — was opened on Saturday.
The suspension spans a little under 700 metres, but the bridge is around three kilometres in total length. It stands 141 metres tall too, and was largely funded through Chinese investment and built by Chinese engineers.
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And yes, China is pretty good at designing and building these things. Five of the country’s suspension bridges are among the world’s ten longest.
It didn’t come cheap though. Mozambique will fork out just slightly less than US$800-million in Chinese loans to cover the initial building costs.
The bridge does however dramatically reduce the travel time across the bay. Previously, a ferry was used to span the coasts.
This isn’t the only infrastructure project the Mozambican government is talking up.
Earlier this month, the country’s Minister of Public Works João Machatine announced that a road running north to south across the entire nation is in the works.
This road also includes a 115km stretch south of the Maputo-Catembe bridge, linking Mozambique with KwaZulu-Natal.
Feature image: The Maputo-Catembe bridge during construction in April 2017, looking north towards Maputo’s city centre from Catembe, by Kejun Li via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
